Wal Torres

Wal Torres^[1] (São Paulo, 1950) is a Brazilian gender therapist and sexologist.

Career

Torres received a Master degree in Sexology from the University Gama Filho, Rio de Janeiro, for which she presented a dissertation titled "Gênero, do Mito à Realidade" (“Gender: from Myth to Reality”) in 2002, and graduated Cum Laude, Torres is a contributing member of the WPATH – World Professional Association for Transgender Health (formerly HBIGDA, which represents specialists from all over the world (doctors, psychologists, sexologists, social workers etc.). She also serves on the Board of the OII – Organisation Intersex International,^[2] an international organisation of intersex people and their allies which represent intersex people.

A graduate of the University of São Paulo Polytechnic School (USP) in Engineering, Torres also has a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the PUC (Pontifícia Universidade Católica), among other related qualifications. In 1995 she decided to research the dynamics in the formation of gender identity disorders in Bireme Library, which is connected to the Universidade Federal de São Paulo. From this period of studies she published a book entitled Meu Sexo Real^[3] (“My Real Sex”), under the pseudonym of Martha Freitas (Vozes Edition, 1998). This book was subsequently sent by its editor to the Frankfurt Book Fair of 1998 and was soon recognized as an authoritative book about the gender subject by Günter Dörner, of the Endocrinology Department at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Later she would also publish O Mito Genital ("The Genital Myth") by Belaspalavras Edition.

Personal life

For many years, she worked as a consultant in the petrochemical and fertilizing industries, where—still in the male gender—she had a successful career, both nationally and internationally. Despite the professional success she realized she had to make a big change in life by accepting her gender dysphoria and moving away from engineering (where it would have been difficult to be accepted in a new gender).^{[citation needed]}

Torres' gender transition started in 1993 and took many years. In 1997 she finally had a sex reassignment surgery with a reputed Brazilian surgeon named Jalma Jurado.^[4]

It is Wal Torres' aim to establish protocols and interchange experiences in the evaluation and treatment of people suffering from gender identity disorders.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Nowadays she uses professionally Wal Torres, MS—PhD. Formerly she was broadly cited as Martha Freitas.
2. ^ Organisation Intersex International
3. ^ Submarino Web site
4. ^ Época Magazine

External links

• Gendercare – gender dysphoria web-based clinic

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Name	Torres, Wal
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Date of birth	1950
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